We All Shine

Rappers are the new rock stars, they say, though few would have predicted that in 2019, Generation Z’s most cutting-edge rappers would sound like the scattered members of a Florida pop-punk band. YNW Melly’s a smiley-faced teen from an unincorporated Florida town who sings bright, Auto-Tuned lullabies about paranoia and murder. On *We All Shine*, tender melodies belie some seriously dark songs: The syrupy-sweet “Robbery” has Melly plotting a bit of light felony with the melisma of an R&B heartthrob. “Rolling Loud” is pure lighters-in-the-air emo-rap balladry, and on the boppy “Mixed Personalities,” Melly outshines Kanye West by singing like he just inhaled a helium balloon.

A true child of SoundCloud, the small-town Florida rapper trades some of his storytelling skills for enhanced fidelity on this Kanye West-assisted project.

YNW Melly's ascension from unknown Florida rapper to Kanye West collaborator happened quickly, going from uploading self-released tracks online at age 15 to the high-gloss production and increasingly accessible sound of his second mixtape, We All Shine, just four years later.